The Spaces In Between: TEASER
by IndigoRiot
Summary: Just a collection of short scenes from the chapters to come - like a sneak peak for you guys into what I have planned for this series. I have big ideas for it. Enjoy!


_**A/N: **Hello there boys and girls, it's Indie here. :) This is literally just **like a teaser trailer you'd get for a movie**, but in written form. Think of it like a series of snapshot moments from the chapters to come. They're not in any order, so don't expect to be able to piece together the story line from these bits and dabs – you'd be wasting your time. :)_

**_Thanks: _**_I'd like to thank everyone who's taken the time to review The Spaces In Between so far; **AquilaTempestas, country-grl20, Ninja Lady Jae, it'sme, UncommonValour, **and **cakg123.** You guys rock. Knowing that you enjoy the story enough to drop a few words back to me really makes it worth it. :')_

_**Disclaimer:** Beyblade, all its characters, themes and everything else, obviously do not belong to me. The ideas in my head penned down here, however, do._

* * *

><p><strong>The Spaces in Between – TEASER<strong>

"And now, Ladies and Gentlemen," DJ Jazzman's voice boomed over the crowd, "the moment you've all been waiting for. Please welcome the last of the eight teams blading in this tournament, and your returning World Champions – the one, the only, the Bladebreakers!"

"Aw, yeah!" Tyson ran out of the double doors and into the stadium to the deafening sound of the roaring crowd, his arms waving around at the crowd, with Max following shortly behind. Rei walked collectedly over to their spot on the podium, calmly waving at the crowd with a smile on his face, while Kai just trailed behind stoically with his hands in his pockets and his scarf trails trailing behind him.

In the crowd, Tyson could see Hilary and Kenny standing in the crowd. He beamed. The little Japanese girl had her hands cupped around her mouth and was cheering just as loud as everyone else, if not louder. Her ruby eyes sparkled with reflections from the spotlights, and she was looking only at him.

**––––– **

"Hey, excuse me!"

Mariah turned her head around in the direction of the voice. In the distance, she saw a young man with spiky blonde hair making his way through the trees towards her. Fluttering in his hand was a long pink ribbon – her headband.

"...Is this yours?" he asked, standing a few feet away from her and holding the ribbon up.

"Oh, yes," she replied, her hand flying up to her hair out of habit. "It's my headband."

"I thought so," he said, trailing off with a small smile. It was all Mariah could really see of his face. She couldn't see his eyes through the golden visor he wore. How mysterious.

"What do you mean?" she asked in response to his remark.

"Oh...nothing, really. Just, this ribbon is pink, and pretty...and so are you." Mariah blinked, and blushed, not really sure what to say. "Here," he said, filling the silence and closing the gap between them, "allow me."

Before she could make a move to stop him, he was in front of her, brushing her long pink hair back from her shoulders, and gently tying the hairband around her hair. He smelt like salt and spices, like the beach of some exotic eastern shoreline.

Then it was gone, and he was stepping softly back. "There," he said, admiring his handiwork, "much better. I'm Msytel, by the way."

****––––– **  
><strong>

The lethargic buzz of the room went immediately silent as the chiming of a text message echoed around. Max quickly snatched his cell phone out of his pocket and read the message. "It's Tyson," Max called to the room. Pretty much everyone had gathered there to wait for news, unable to sleep. "He says he's found her! He's found a cave in the mountain...they've taken shelter there."

Mr Dickenson sighed and ran a tired hand over his aged face. Thank God. "And… and they're both okay?"

"I dunno, he didn't say. I guess so, though, if he could send a text." Max looked drawn, serious, and older than anyone had ever seen him. The worry for the lives of two of his closest friends had really affected him.

"Good. Tell them to stay out of the rain and keep warm, if they can. We'll send a search team out at dawn to find them."

****––––– **  
><strong>

– _Miguel –_

"Dr K? What is it?" The blonde ran his fingers through his hair, puzzled. It wasn't often he received a call directly from headquarters.

– _Where's Brooklyn? –_

"I'm not sure. Why?"

– _Find him before the next round starts. Tell him to throw in the next match. –_

Miguel blinked. "Throw in the…why?"

– _Just do it, Miguel. That's an order. –_

**_**––––– ** _**

"Never got here?" Grandpa blinked. "What'd'ya mean they...they never got here?" His hands gripped the back of the seat, shaking as he tried to make sense of the news. The room was spinning.

"I'm sorry, Ryu," Mr Dickenson said heavily. "They all got on that plane this morning and...and it never made it to New York. We have no idea where they are."

****––––– **  
><strong>

"T'ch, they can hardly call themselves bladers," Tala sneered, seeing the dual-haired girl and her brother walk by. "They're just circus performers."

As soon as she heard the words, she froze. Her long brunette hair whipped behind her and she turned to face him, and her bright emerald eyes flashed with indignation. Tala smirked. Feisty. Just the reaction he was hoping for. "Circus performers?" she hissed.

"Why, do you mean to tell me that you _actually _know how to battle?"

She closed the gap between them and narrowed her eyes at him dangerously, her nose just inches from his. "Oh, I can battle alright," Julia said, "would you care for a demonstration?"

****––––– **  
><strong>

The stadium went silent with the shock of this surprise announcement, as did all of the bladers below. They were all staring up at the huge multi-screen, looking at the match-ups, completely taken aback.

_Randomized tag teams?_ Tyson blinked, not completely sure what he was looking at. Dickenson didn't mention _this_ in the two weeks they'd all spent training in the mountains. His dark brown eyes quickly scanned the match-ups. Kai with that shy pink haired girl on the BEGA team, Max with Enrique, and there, in the corner, he saw his own face next to Tala's.

"...What the hell?"

****––––– **  
><strong>

Then, the clearing echoed with a sickening snapping sound. The rope snapped, and Rei watched as the boy with blue hair froze for just a moment, before catching the eyes of his friends and disappearing out of sight. The girl screamed.

"KANE!"

**––––– **

Robert excused himself from the meeting he was chaired in and exited the room. He hoped this phone call truly _was_ important, or he'd be having serious words with Oliver very soon. "Yes, Oliver what is –"

_– Robert, they're gone – they've been taken! –_

Robert blinked in confusion. Taken? What did he mean, taken? "Oliver, what – slow down. Explain."

– _They've all been taken, Robert. Enri, Johnny, Rachel, everyone who made it to the final rounds! They got on the plane to New York, but it never touched down. They can't even trace it. Dickenson's saying it's abduction! _ –

**––––– **

"No, look, you're doing it wrong," Michael drawled lazily. He came up to stand behind Mariah, wrapped his arms around her and took her by the hands. He took her slowly through the motions of winding her arm back and throwing the ball. Then she squirmed out of his arms and squatted him on the chest.

"Alright now, Casanova, don't be getting too fresh," she said, narrowing her eyes and smirking at him. "We're supposed to be practicing for our match, not messing around with your stupid baseball, remember?"

She tossed it back to him, and he received it with a cocky grin.

Rei turned on his heel and began to stalk back into the building, not able to watch and longer. He tried to ignore the whistling rage his head and the sickening knot that had been festering in the pit of his stomach for the past few weeks.

**––––– **

Looking up at the screen before him, Tala blinked his eyes once, and then once again – to remove what moisture ought to have been there, but wasn't. There wasn't anything he could do; he had no plan B, no ace up his sleeve. He was backed up against a wall, huddled into a corner. The decision was already made.

"...What do you want?" he whispered.

He looked up to his left and saw the man he loathed most on earth, with a sinister and cruel smirk plastered on his face, gesture idly to the door behind him.

"If you'll just follow me," Boris said quietly, his words slithering around Tala's senses, smothering him, "I will be sure to enlighten you."

**––––– **

A second later and she found herself roughly pushed up against the wall as he returned the kiss, deeper and more feral than before. He tasted like nicotine and peppermint, and Rachel was quickly lost in the dizzying experience of his lips against hers.

Off to the side, Tala shuffled a little awkwardly from foot to foot, wondering slightly if this was something he should be seeing or not.

What was she doing again? She really wasn't the type to kiss strangers and yet here she was, pressed between the wall in a very public corridor and Bryan's firm, wide chest, losing her hands beneath his jacket, kissing the stone-cold bad-boy of the Blitzkrieg Boys, a person she hardly knew, trying to prove a point. But the point was a lie, and it was intoxicating.

**––––– **

"Hilary!"

"Tyson, it's getting too dangerous, we have to go back. We'll look again in the morning."

"No Max, it'll be too late then! I have to find her!" He wrenched his arm roughly out of the blonde's grasp and continued shouting against the wind and the rain, stalking further into the mountains and away from his team. This was all his fault. It he wasn't such a jerk, if he didn't say the things he'd said, she wouldn't have ran away. She wouldn't be lost out here in the middle of this storm, in the middle of nowhere. "Hilary!"

"Tyson!"

The Japanese blader stopped for just a moment to look over his shoulder at Kai. The Russian born captain was unzipping his thick black Parka and within seconds, he had thrown it over to Tyson, who caught it. Kai's dark hair whipped about his pale face and his intense crimson eyes held Tyson's gaze for just a moment. He said nothing.

But that was all he needed. Kai understood. If anything happened to Hilary tonight, Tyson would never forgive himself. He _had_ to find her.

**––––– **

"I don't know what to do, Salima. If I try and keep her close, she just pulls away from me. And if I give her some space and let her go, she stays away." He looked up at her with sadness in his golden eyes, "I don't know what to do, Salima. I'm losing her. And every time I look at them…I see them laughing at me. Jeering at me." He clenched his fists in his lap, and spoke now through gritted teeth. "Because she'd rather be with them...than with me."

**––––– **

"I'd love to travel," Tala said over the warm crackling embers of the fire.

Ozuma looked at him, the flames reflecting unusual colours in his strange emerald eyes. "Have you been anywhere before?"

"No," Tala sighed. Then he smirked. "I've never even seen outside of Russia before, until now."

"That's a shame," Mariam said wistfully, chipping in from her sleeping bag in the corner of the hut, "It's a big world out there...there's so much to see." Then she rolled over in her sleeping bag and propped her chin up. "You should come travel with us, after the tournament finishes." Her eyes were sparkling and sincere as she spoke, "We're planning on exploring some Tibetan ruins, aren't we Ozuma."

"Yes, we are," the captain of the Saint Shields affirmed. "Perhaps we'll find another forgotten legend. You'd be more than welcome to join us, all of you," he said, facing Tala.

Tala smiled. "That would be nice. I'll be sure to think about it."

**––––– **

"Abducted?" Tyson's voice was raised with incredulous rage. "What'd'ya mean we're gonna be abducted?" His body language was defensive, hands balled into fists at his sides. Mr Dickenson had pulled some stunts on them before, but this was just too much. It had to be some kind of sick joke. It _had_ to be.

**––––– **

Michael pulled back his hands and found the blood on his fingertips. His breath hitched in his throat at the sight of it. "Rachel…!"

**––––– **

Enrique scanned the room quickly, before his eyes came to rest on an appropriate target. Ditching Oliver and slithering around the furniture in the room, he closed the gap between himself and the gorgeous bluenette who was sat by the large glass windows, quietly reading a book. It looked like a horror novel. He promptly sat down beside her, and unabashedly threw his arm over the back of the seat. She turned her head around to face him, and cocked an eyebrow.

"So," Enrique said, in his Casanova voice, "I haven't seen you before. Where're you from – heaven?"

"Yeah, I'm a ghost. I died fifteen years ago, like that pick up line."

Mariam promptly snapped her book shut, stood up, and walked away, leaving Enrique with nothing to do but stare blankly off into the direction she left, completely speechless at his icy rejection.

**––––– **

"You know, you wanna treat that little kitten of yours a little nicer."

Rei angrily grit his teeth, before spinning on his heel and turning to face the Russian blader. His hard, golden eyes stared relentlessly into Bryan's impassive grey ones. "Frankly, Bryan, I don't see that it's any of your business," he spat.

"No, it's not," he said, cooly, taking a puff on his cigarette. "But you keep acting the way you are now, and chances are you'll find her in the arms of another man."

"What, like you, you mean?" Rei said, wearing an uncharacteristic sneer on his face.

Bryan laughed, but it was utterly devoid of any amusement. "Sure, you torment yourself with that thought, if you'd like," he taunted. "But you and I both know that I'm not the threat here. Not today."

**––––– **

"It's a beautiful day, today!" Oliver exclaimed enthusiastically, throwing his arms about in the air elegantly. He pouted, slightly, when he saw that he was being utterly ignored. Rachel continued to mope around on the bed, staring off into space, playing absentmindedly with the two steel dog tags she always wore – even in bed. "We could go down to the lake, if you wanted. You could take some pictures of the water, I'm sure the reflections would be wonderful!" No response. He sighed. Clearly, she wasn't going anywhere today. He turned around to leave, but was stopped by the sound of her voice.

"Oliver...do you know what day it is?" she asked, staring up at the ceiling with eyes that saw nothing.

"Yes... of course," he said, with a tiny smile that didn't reach his eyes. "It's the seventeenth." July seventeenth, Oliver thought. Three years ago today, she became an only child.

"Yes." Slowly, Rachel turned her head on the pillow and held Oliver's gaze with her own. "And that...is never a good day."

**––––– **

"Disappeared? No. He… he can't..._he can't_...he can't have..." The redhead broke down where she stood, unable to cope with the news. "We...we've only just got him back."

"I'm sorry, Mrs Ivanov. We're doing everything in our power to find them." Dickenson said, his heart breaking at the sight.

"Well do more," Mr Ivanov said, fixing Dickenson with a stony glare while his wife cried bitter tears against his chest. Losing their child once is hard enough. He didn't know if they could survive it a second time.

**––––– **

"NO!"

Hilary blinked, confused with the navy haired teen's outburst.

Tyson, seeing the hurt expression on her face, played idly with his cap and tried to pull a smooth recovery. "I mean, no. You should ride with the Chief and Rei on the other plane. Y'know, he'll probably be lonely and all, being the only one of us not to qualify for the finals."

"Oh, um, okay. If you say so."

Tyson pulled a lopsided smile. He couldn't have her on that plane with him, not after the news he heard last night. "Thanks, Hil." He pulled her into a close one armed hug, gripping a little tighter than would normally have been expected for a short-goodbye. "I'll see you when we land," he said softly.

"Yeah...see you, Ty."

Pulling away, he saw that she was blushing. He smirked and put on his mask of arrogance, just for show. "Try not to miss me too much," he said, with a cheeky wink. Then he strode away in the direction of his leaving gate, not bothering to wait for her comeback, and definitely not looking back.

**––––– **

"So...if it isn't the great Kai Hiwatari."

Kai glanced arrogantly over his shoulder. "McGregor."

"Hm. I've been waiting to see you all summer." Johnny narrowed his lavender eyes competitively. "I want a rematch."

Kai smirked. "No thanks. I don't blade with losers."

**––––– **

Max gripped on to the ledge for all his life. Looking down into the foaming river below, he swore he could see every bubble, every wave, every rock. His heart was thumping in his throat, his blood was pounding in his chest.

He didn't know if he could make it. But they were waiting for him down there. And everybody inside was counting on him.

He had to get that code to Ian.

Thinking only of his one goal, Max took a deep breath and let himself free-fall down the cliff face into the raging depths below.

**––––– **

Bryan shifted the cigarette he was smoking from one side of his mouth to the other since his fingers were too busy forming notes and strumming the strings on the guitar he was playing. From his spot on the rooftop, the view of downtown Denver at night was beautiful. The streets and high rise tower blocks were all brightly lit, and seemed to sparkle cheerily against the inky backdrop of the night. But Bryan didn't have eyes for that, he didn't have eyes for anything. Right now, he was all ears.

"You play beautifully, you know."

Bryan tensed, caught off guard by the sudden intrusion. The cigarette fell from his mouth and into the street below. "Fuck, Rachel," he said, over his shoulder. "Creeping up on me. Made me lose my cigarette." His tone was harsh, but his heart wasn't in it.

She perched a few feet away from him on the rooftop ledge, rolling her eyes. "Would it kill you to be polite, for once?"

"Probably," he said. He couldn't hide the smirk.

**––––– **

From across the room, Kai watched as Matilda tried desperately to make herself invisible.

It wasn't working.

Every time she made nervous eye contact with him, he knew. He knew that it was her.

And what's more, she knew that he knew. That's what made her clam up, made her dodge his every step. There was no point in him trying to talk to her, to get more information out of her. She wouldn't tell him anything.

So he knew that when he got onto that plane the next morning, he'd be doing it blind. They all would.

**––––– **

"Hilary, I…I'm so sorry," he whispered. His breath tickled the hair at the back of her neck. His voice was rough and raw with heartfelt emotion and self-loathing. It was rare that Tyson ever got like this. She couldn't see his face, so she didn't know what expression he was wearing. But she was sure the mask of confidence wasn't there. She imagined that his dark brown eyes were probably burning with a ferocious kind of vulnerability. "I've been such a jerk. I don't mean the things I say, Hil. I don't...I don't know why I say them. I don't even think them, they just...they just come out. I'm a horrible person –"

"No, Ty, you're not," she whispered. The rain was still falling outside, and the wind was howling. She wondered if he even heard her. But she felt feverish, her head was pounding, and her throat was too hoarse to manage anything more than a whisper.

"I am. I'm always pushing you away...always hurting you. Always saying things I shouldn't. I shouldn't have said that today Hil...I shouldn't. I didn't mean it. I...I wouldn't be better off without you. I wouldn't. But because I couldn't control my stupid mouth...I got us into this mess. I got _you_ into this mess, and..."

Hilary blinked, trying to clear her eyes of the tears that were pooling there. "It's okay, Tyson," she whispered. "It's fine. We're both going to be fine…"

**––––– **

"Centuries later, and people became more curious still. They began to wonder if they could channel the power of these spirits within their very bodies, and free themselves of the bondage from serving mystical, distant deities. It was a very dangerous procedure," she said, absentmindedly trailing her fingers across the tattoo on her forearm. "Most people died within minutes – and those who survived lost their minds. Only a select few ever held on to their sanity, and it's these people that history has record of. You might have heard them referred to as... Shaman."

**––––– **

"Rei, let go!" Mariah cried, trying to pull her wrist out of his iron grasp, "You're hurting me!"

Rei suddenly dropped her wrist and wrenched his hand back as if it had been burned. He stared at his own hand incredulously, as if it were not his own.

"Rei," Mariah pleaded, "what's happening to us...to you?"

**––––– **

"So, rock paper scissors for who's going out for the pizza?" Enrique declared.

"Argh, fine then." Tyson said, pouting.

Around the table, he, Max, Enrique, Johnny, Michael, Eddy, Tala, Ian, Mystel and Kane all started drawing their fists, ready to throw down.

**––––– **

Hilary fell to her knees.

Tyson knew that they were going to be taken. He had to have known. That's why he didn't want her on the plane, why he asked her to ride with Rei and the others who didn't make it though instead.

She knew that something was wrong. Knew it the moment he'd reached up for his hat.

But she never expected this.

**––––– **

"No, Tala!" Tyson shouted, his hands balled into fists at his sides. "We're running around blind down here, and we don't have a fucking clue what's going on!"

"Tyson," Tala said calmly, trying to maintain a level head. If they all succumbed to panic, they'd never get anywhere, "Try and calm down –"

"Calm down? Have you lost your fucking –"

"We just need to stick together –"

"We don't have a clue what we're up against –"

"And focus on getting out of –"

"We're not going anywhere!" Tyson cried. "Not without knowing what we're facing. Not when someone's already holding all the answers. 'Cause I think someone here knows a hell of a lot more than they're letting on – isn't that right, Rachel?"

The brunette froze. She didn't even bother turning around to face her accuser. "I don't know what you're talking ab –"

"Bullshit! Don't give me that –"

"Tyson," Kai warned.

"What?" Tyson shouted, throwing his arms wide in the air. "I'm only saying what everybody else is thinking!"

**––––– **

Matilda froze in the darkness. She was being followed.

"He...hello?" she called meekly.

She spun about to her left as she heard footsteps approach her. Out of the darkness stepped Crusher and Garland, silent, with the beyblade launchers in hand.

Crusher smirked, "We've been lookin' all over for you, Til. Boris isn't happy. You ratted out. He expected that if anyone would, it woulda been you – you've always been soft. Still, he had hoped for better."

Her breath caught in her throat as she reached back for her beyblade, the only defense she had.

"Sorry, Matilda," said Garland impassively, taking a launching stance, "but orders are orders."

**––––– **

Bryan's hands shook on the gun he was pointing at that bastard's head. All he had to do was pull the trigger. Just one flex of his index finger, one tiny movement, and a corpse with its brains blown out would be all that remained of Boris Balkov. It would be quicker than blinking, easier than breathing.

But there were two good men behind him, on their knees with guns to their temples. One wrong move on his part, and they would die. Boris was holding all the cards. He always did.

Bryan's ears were ringing. He couldn't pull the trigger.

"Bryan! Bryan just shoot – shoot him!" Mariah screamed. She had a gun to her head herself and was on her knees on the floor, being roughly held up by the hair.

"Drop the gun, Bryan," Boris soothed in silky tones, "you wouldn't want to have another death on your conscience now, would you?" As he said it, the guard holding the gun to Mariah's head cocked it threateningly.

"Don't listen to him! Please! Bryan just shoot him! Shoot him!" Her screams were desperate, and her tears ran clear streaks through her dirty, bloodstained face.

"Pull the fucking trigger, Bryan," Kai said quietly from somewhere behind him. His voice was low, dangerous.

Bryan clenched his teeth. His finger shook a little harder on the trigger.

**––––– **

"...Alright, then. Since you asked _so_ nicely, I'll let you in on the secret."

Tala watched as this mad woman, this _Dr. K,_ slinked lazily over to his bedside and perched down on the bed beside him. Leaning over him, her long, black her fell like a curtain around them. He went to move it out of the way – he didn't want it anywhere near him – but then he remembered he was strapped to this bed and couldn't move an inch. She was close, so close that he could feel her breath tickle his cheek. He felt sick.

She trailed her fingers down his bare chest, walking them around the little circular monitoring devices he could never remember the name of.

Smirking, she moved her lips to his ear and whispered, "...I'm going to kill you, Tala."

She straightened up again and softly stroked his cheek with her hand, much like a mother would when consoling a child. Looking him gently in the eyes, she said, "I'm going to take a needle and fill it with potassium chloride. Then, after I've injected you with it, I'm going to watch as your heart stops beating... and that magnificent, arrogant light fades from your eyes. You're going to die, Tala."

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN:_**_ Omgomgomg. O:  
>Soooooo? Dude, I hope you're excited by this, because I'm geeking out over wanting to write this whole damn story out, but I just can't type or even think fast enough to do that. D:<br>Anyway, so I've been really quite ambitious with with – everything's planned out in my head, it's just a matter of getting it down on paper (or laptop, LOL). So t__ell me what you think. D: _

_~Indie _


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